Cristiano Ronaldo penalty not enough! Al-Nassr suffer damaging Saudi Pro League defeat to Al Qadsiah as title hopes take another blow

Despite the galling defeat, Al-Nassr started brightly and went close through former Bayern Munich star Kingsley Coman and ex-Atletico Madrid ace Joao Felix. Things weren’t clicking for captain Ronaldo, who had a quiet first half where the hosts had nine shots to the visitors’ three, and they produced an Expected Goals tally of 1.16 to 0.3. 

But the home crowd was stunned when a corner kick went horribly wrong. After the away team cleared the set piece, the ball was passed back to goalkeeper Al-Aqidi, who dawdled on the ball for too long and his attempted punt up field was charged down by Quiñones, who raced away to tap into an empty net in the 51st minute. Things went from bad to worse 15 minutes later when Nandez slammed home the rebound after Mateo Retegui’s shot was saved. 

Al-Nassr were handed a lifeline when Jehad Thakri was penalised for a handball and Ronaldo converted the spot-kick with nine minutes remaining. Jorge Jesus’ team pushed for an equaliser but they couldn’t draw level despite there being 10 minutes of stoppage time. The result means they stay second, four points behind Al-Hilal. Al Qadsiah, on the other hand, are up to fourth.